Noun: buss
| Singular | buss |
| Plural | busses |
Sample Sentences
-
Here he gave Jones a hearty buss, shook him by the hand, and took his leave. [1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:]
Nouns inflected like buss
penniless-bench,
wintergrass,
kitchen pass,
grey fox,
grey box,
trailer hitch,
paleness,
loaded march,
Tush Push,
horribleness,
slaughteress,
chapparvovirus,
greenwax,
royal flush,
crab cactus,
geostress,
syngas,
wintercress,
ichthys,
ichthus, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. Uncertain. First attested in the 1560s. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰus- (“lip, to kiss”) via Proto-Germanic *busaną (compare German bussen), but in any case imitative of kissing. Compare Welsh bus (“kiss, lip”) and Irish bus (“lips, mouth”) (both may have influenced English), Persian بوس (bus, “kiss”), Latvian buča (“kiss”), Latin basium (“kiss”).
2. Mainstream proposals like in The Free Dictionary have suggested it is a blend of old English dialect words bass (related to French baiser) and cuss (akin to kissen); perhaps compare puss. See: Irish Nouns '
bus', Latvian Nouns '
buča', Latin Nouns '
basium', French Nouns '
baiser'.
Verbs referencing "buss"
Czech Nouns
pusa, Latin Nouns
basium.